The number isn't large but the enrollment¹ of a dozen Chinese students for the first post-graduate degree on yoga offered at the China-India Yoga College (CIYC) in the southern Chinese city of Kunming is a sign of "widespread attention" the ancient Indian practice is getting in China, a state media report said Monday.

 

尽管人数不多，但中国南方城市昆明的中印瑜伽学院（CIYC）首批12名硕士研究生入学一事表明，这种古老的印度健身方法“备受瞩目”。

 

The 12 students enrolled² late last year and when they graduate after three years – the last one in India learning among other things, Sanskrit – they will be the first students holding post-graduate degrees on yoga in China.

 

The CIYC was opened at the Yunnan Minzu University in Kunming in 2015 in collaboration³ with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China that year.

 

In September 2017, 40 undergraduate students enrolled at the college where yoga teachers from India are part of the faculty⁴.

 

An interview of the first master's students of yoga in China reflected the "charming spirituality of the ancient practice".

 

Zhang Mengping, who worked at a yoga club in Zhejiang province before enrolling⁵ for the course, said yoga helped her find inner peace.

 

She felt good to see the "…links between the ancient Chinese and Indian knowledge systems".

 

Lang Gongxun, CIYC vice-president, said that there was huge professional demand in China's yoga industry, and the college was hoping to train comprehensive professionals able to improve the healthy development of this sector⁶.

点击收听单词发音